FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Stranger Factory art space is proud to present its June 2012
exhibitions:
Chet Zar's Le Petite Mort, Charlie Immer's Scuffle & Stephan
Webb's Sinister Dexterity
June 1 – July 2, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, June 1, 6-9pm
Artists will be in attendance
Stranger Factory is gearing up for a romp into the realm of the
strange and unsettling with a triple-
header solo extravaganza this June. Master of the macabre, Chet
Zar, sugary surrealist Charlie Immer
and gothic sculptor Stephan Webb are blowing into the Duke City
to intrigue and dazzle us with
explorations of death, biomechanics and a hearty dose of
violence. The exhibitions stand alone and also
blend seamlessly with overarching themes, creating a narrative
of bizarre and beautiful darkness
through painting and sculpture.
Chet Zar on Le Petite Mort:
I have been fascinated by death since I was very young. Skulls
and death related imagery have always
resonated with me, probably as a place to hang my childhood
fears.
Since I usually create artwork from my subconscious, you might
conclude that I am subconsciously
confronting my own mortality through painting. It could be true.
But honestly, I don't really know for
sure. I know what I like to paint, and I like to paint
skulls!
Benjamin Franklin once said, "'In this world nothing can be said
to be certain, except death and taxes."
Well, taxes are quite a boring subject. But death! That is
another story entirely. It's going to happen to
me, you, everybody we know and everybody we don't. It's even
going to happen to those who have not
been born yet and it has happened to everybody who have come
before us. Surely this is a valid topic
for exploration though art!
Charlie Immer on Scuffle:
Scuffle is a tribute to 2D fighting video games. I hoped to
capture the specific structure of those games.
From the individual character portraits complete with battle
damage, to the themed areas where the
damage is received. Ranged magic and melee combat is explored.
In all of my work my characters feel
no pain so there is no need for empathy. We can all just enjoy
the blood, icing, and gem bits as they
spill, splatter, and ricochet onto the beaches and cave walls of
the world that's been created.
Stephan Webb on Sinister Dexterity:
A major theme for this upcoming show is the representation of
hands throughout the series. I feel that a
hand gesture can evoke just as much as an emotional response as
a facial expression. Also, the name for
this show has just as much roots in biology as the pieces
themselves. Biologists love their Latin root
words when creating names for anything that, previously, is
unprescribed. For instance, the word
"sinister" is derived from the Latin word Sinistra, meaning
"left handed." During the middle ages (and
in some modern cultures) left handed people were seen as being
evil, thus the word has developed an
ominous connotation in modern contexts. The word "dexterity" is
derived from the Latin word Dextro,
meaning "right handed" and, in modern contexts, is referred to
as the ability of carrying out manual
tasks. What happens when you combine right and left hand? My
show, Sinister Dexterity, an ominous
compilation of manual aptitude!
ARTIST BIOS:
Born on November 12th, 1967, in the harbor town of San Pedro,
CA, Chet Zar's interest in the darker
side of art began in the earliest stages of his life. A natural
fascination with all things strange fostered
within himself a deep connection to horror movies and dark
imagery. The combined interest in horror
films and art eventually culminated into a career as a special
effects makeup artist, designer and
sculptor for the motion picture industry. But the many years
spent dealing with all of the politics and
artistic compromises of the film industry left Zar feeling
creatively stagnant. At the beginning of 2000,
he decided to go back to his roots and focus on his own original
works and try his hand at fine art,
specifically painting in oils. The result has been a renewed
sense of purpose, artistic freedom and a
clarity of vision that is evident in his darkly surreal (and
often darkly humorous) paintings.
Website and social media : www.chetzar.com | @ChetZar
Charlie Immer is an artist and illustrator based in Maryland. He
holds a BFA in Illustration from the
Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been exhibited
internationally and published in Juxtapoz
and Hi-Fructose magazines. Charlie enjoys dissecting his
subjects which creates a contrast between
colorful simple characters and the beauty of the anatomy within
them. He currently lives in Hagerstown
with his collection of skeletons and candy.
Website and social media: www.charlieimmer.com |
@SkeletonSlime
Stephan Webb is a graduate from the University of New Mexico
with a BS in biology. His artwork
takes a surrealistic view of biological process and how they
interact with our fabricated human
environments. Attempting to capture the ongoing process of
evolution, his work tells a story of
organisms that have evolved in cohesion with man's machines or
discarded relics: a merging of biology
with industry. Often these themes are combined in intricate
sculptures that feature biological entities
and structures juxtaposed with harsh geometric shapes, while
trying to establish a soft merger of the
two. His newest body of work explores the inner workings of the
human psyche and the forces that are
imposed on an individual that affect the behavior and
characteristics of that individual.
Website and social media: www.stephanwebb.com | FB Page:
Geometric Origins, Bronze Creations
